casual cooking and living

Tag Archives: summer recipes

It’s County Fair Season and I sure do love it. Our local fair is pretty small in scale but scale is made up for in location, location, location! The fair sits on the edge of the sand and sea. Warm breezes and salty air waft over the fairground. A perfect time to be out enjoying the music, rides and the food. Let’s talk about fair food. I can enjoy the real deal as much as the next person – the funnel cakes, corn dogs, kettle corn, snow cones and all kind so of things fried, but I often wonder wouldn’t it be nice to kick it all up a notch and maybe not be eating just fried everything. I decided to create my own fair food menu, perfect with your next fair or family gathering.

From by the bay wishing you delicious country fair food memories!

Maryann

Belgian Waffles with Whipped Mascarpone Cream and Peaches

Makes 8

1 ½ cup flour

2 tablespoons fine sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 eggs

½ cup milk

¼ sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

¼ cup melted unsalted butter

Spray vegetable oil

Directions

In a large bowl mix together flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Add milk, sour cream, vanilla and melted butter to the dry ingredients and mix well. Let batter rest for 5 minutes. Meanwhile spray waffle iron with vegetable oil andpreheat waffle iron. Add ½ cup of batter for each waffle. Cook as directed with iron until waffles are golden brown. Serve waffles with whipped mascarpone cream and freshly sliced peaches. Dust some confectionery sugar on top of the assembled waffles.

Whipped Mascarpone Cream

¼ cup mascarpone

¼ cup heavy cream

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons confectionery sugar

Place all the ingredients in a bowl and using an electric mixer, whip together until the cream is in soft peaks that hold their shape. Serve immediately with the waffles or keep in the refrigerator covered until ready to use.

Here is a delicious, quick and oh yes, healthy meal – Spicy Shrimp Tacos with Red Cabbage Slaw. It’s great to serve family style for ease. It also makes a great meal for guests since it can be prepared quickly and most of it in advance. This is one of my favorite go to summer dishes, because it’s light , easy and cool but of course it’s great all year round !

In a medium bowl add the lime juice, orange juice, olive oil and sugar. Whisk together until sugar is dissolved. Add the red cabbage to the bowl and mix until cabbage is coated with the dressing. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let sit in the refrigerator covered for approximately 4 hours before serving.

To make the Avocado Sauce

In a small food processor or blender add the avocado, lime juice, sour cream and salt. Blend until smooth. Place in a covered container and place in the refrigerator until ready to use.

To make the Spicy Shrimp Taco

Heat a grill pan until hot, add the shrimp and grill approximately 2 to 3 minutes per side or until the shrimp turn opaque. Warm soft tortillas in the microwave for a minute. To serve, place the shrimp, slaw, avocado sauce along with garnishes of lime, cilantro and jalapeno on platters and allow guests to make their own tacos.

If you are like me, you are finding it very hard to believe that September and Labor Day Weekend are here! But with that we like to celebrate Labor Day Weekend with friends and family. Here are a few of the recipes I’ll be using to entertaining this weekend!

Part of my holiday weekend will be filling the house with some sunflowers, while I still can. Nothing says late summer more to me than sunflowers! In addition, I’ll be using the best of the produce from the farm stands this weekend and corn is still at it’s peak! I’ll be making some corn hummus with corn leftover from another meal. You need just four extra ears. This recipe calls for roasting the corn in the oven at 425 for 45 minutes wrapped in foil. I’ve been making my corn like this all summer, it’s easy to prep in advance and really easy to serve a crowd of people. I prep it before anyone arrives, leave it on a tray in the oven and just turn the oven on an hour before I want to serve it warm. Delicious!! so make a few extra and also make Roasted Sweet Corn Hummus

Another favorite meal that is an easy meal for a crowd that is delicious and super simple to make is Brisket with Cola Barbecue Sauce. You’ll love the flavor using your favorite NON-DIET Cola in your sauce!

Wondering what to serve along side this dish , you definitely need some fresh coleslaw. I like to make my Grandma’s Coleslaw with Warm Dressing. Definitely, a comforting complement to the brisket!

The perfect dessert for a crowd is a crumble and this crumble mixes blueberries and plums for a slightly sweet and spicy dish. You will love my Blueberry Plum Crumble!

If you need a breakfast brunch idea for the weekend, one of my favorite dishes is Vanilla Bourbon Soaked French Toast. I use big thick slices of brioche soaked in vanilla and bourbon. Bourbon? Why not it’s a holiday weekend and the french toast is topped with a yummy mixed berry and plum compote!

I will definitely try to bake some cookies this weekend to have around the house and in celebration of sunflowers I think I’ll be baking sugar cookies topped with sanding sugar to look like my beautiful sunflowers! Use my Favorite Sugar Cookierecipe!

From by the bay, make great friends and family food memories this weekend!

Cool and refreshing, this simple cold soup uses only four ingredients. Don’t let the simplicity deceive your perception of this recipe, the taste is delicious! This is definitely one of my favorite soups to enjoy over and over again this summer. I use whatever cucumbers I have around and it’s especially a good way to use cucumbers that are a few days old and not at peak.

From by the bay, wishing you cool and refreshing food memories!

Maryann

Cold Cucumber and Buttermilk Soup

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 pound cucumbers, peeled, halved and seeded

2 teaspoons jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped

2 cups buttermilk ( whole if available)

2 teaspoons fine sea salt

optional: diced cucumber to garnish and coarse sea salt such as Maldon

Directions

Coarsely chop the cucumbers. Place cucumber along with the remaining ingredients in a food processor. Blend until smooth, about 1 minute. Place in a container and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours before serving. To serve, garnish with diced cucumber and a little coarse sea salt.

Inspired by my quest to enjoy the sweet corn this summer which is really at it’s height of flavor I’ve continued to explore using corn in different recipes. This roasted sweet corn hummus has become an instant favorite. It’s also the perfect way to use any leftover corn you might have after a meal, that said don’t wait for leftovers, this recipe is one you will want to try immediately! I was looking for the perfect balance of corn, chickpeas and tahini … 4 ears of corn is perfect to achieve a strong taste of corn in every bite – but the recipe is forgiving so feel free to adjust based on the amount of corn you might have available.

From by the bay, wishing you sweet corn food memories!

Maryann

Roasted Sweet Corn Hummus

Ingredients

4 ears of fresh corn, shucked

15 ounces ready to eat chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup tahini

6 tablespoons water

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Optional: additional olive oil and coarse sea salt ( such as Maldon)

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Wrap corn in a piece on aluminum foil , place on a baking sheet and in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and take corn out of the foil and place directly on the rack in the oven for another 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. Cut kernels off the cob and place half of the corn, into a food processor. Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the fresh corn kernels and place remaining corn into the food processor. Blend until corn is not quite smooth, so there is some texture to the hummus. Place in a covered container and chill for two hours before serving. To serve place in the shallow bowl. Drizzle hummus with olive oil, sprinkle remaining corn kernels and a touch of coarse sea salt.

Here is what’s cooking this weekend by the bay and I’m keeping it yellow, hopefully as yellow as the sun brightly shining in the sky.

To kick off my weekend of sunshine eating, I’m making my Cornmeal and Sweet Corn Pancakes. A delicious start to any weekend, using some farm fresh yellow corn or use your leftover corn from the night before mixed with some corn meal .

Dinner is a nice bowl of Fresh Corn with ShrimpGrits, it doesn’t get better than a bowl creamy grits made with a corn broth, cooked along with shrimp and bacon and splashed with lemon juice to brighten the flavor. Served on the side a nice plate of yellow tomatoes, simply drizzled with a good olive oil and sprinkled with coarse sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. Perfection.

Dessert is a lovely light and lemony pudding using my recipe for Lemon Posset

Corn of course is the perfect side dish – anyway you want to serve as long as you eat it the day it’s picked on the farm the freshness is the star of the show – so grill, boil, it’s so fresh you can eat it raw, but if you want to try a new corn side dish, you will want to try my recipe for Corn in a Cup!

Now for dessert, it’s an easy Stone Fruit Crostata, using the rest of my peaches! a recipe that is so forgiving and beyond delicious with it’s crispy and buttery crust.

From by the bay, make great friends and family food memories this weekend!

Zucchini – one of the favorite staples of the summer harvest is showing up in farmer’s markets and grocery stores. If you are lucky like me it shows up at your door courtesy of a generous neighbor with a fabulous vegetable garden. No matter how you get that zucchini into your kitchen you must try this recipe for chilled zucchini soup. Super simple to make this is a refreshing treat to enjoy for lunch or dinner. Try drinking this cup of summer freshness!

From by the bay, wishing you chill food memories!

Maryann

Chilled Zucchini Soup with Mint

Serves 6

4-5 medium zucchini sliced in rounds approximately 2 pounds

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small white onion, chopped

4 cups chicken broth

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts, plus extra for garnish

1 tablespoon lemon juice

½ cup fresh mint chopped

1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

additional coarse sea salt to finishing

Directions

In a large pot heat olive oil and sauté the white onion until softened about 5 minutes. Add the zucchini, salt and pepper stirring occasionally until the zucchini is softened, about 5 more minutes. Add the broth to the pot, bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer until the zucchini is tender, about 5 more minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Using a food processor puree the zucchini mixture along with the parmesan cheese, pine nuts, mint and lemon juice. Pour into a bowl adding the buttermilk and blend. Cover and place in the refrigerator to cool for at least 3 hours. Adjust seasoning with coarse sea salt. Serve chilled and garnish with toasted pine nuts and a drizzle of olive oil.

It’s a big holiday weekend – family picnics, barbecues with friends, sun, water, fireworks ….. food is an important part of our celebrations! Here are a few of the recipes, I’ll be cooking over the long weekend. Mornings will start slowly, after that first cup of coffee I’ll be taking out my muffin pan to make Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins

There is nothing like a summer hamburger cooked to perfection on an outdoor grill. You may want to stop there but I strongly suggest that if you want to really amp up the flavor of your grilled burger, try making your own version of special sauce. Usually, special sauce is a combination of your favorite condiments – mayonnaise, mustard and ketchup. The base of my special sauce is the same but I like to chop up bread and butter pickles for a little sweetness along with pickled jalapenos for some spice and heat to mix into my sauce so that every bite of my burger has a combination of many tastes. I could have stopped here but decided to take my sauce up one more level of flavor. I added to my sauce one of the best ingredients I could think of – whiskey! Whiskey really makes that special sauce a “special, special sauce”. The whiskey enhances the salty and sweet flavors. As for topping the burger feel free to have a slice of melted american cheese. You can also try my new favorite, freshly grated parmesan cheese generously grated over the burger like a big cloud of freshly fallen snow! It’s burger time with your own special sauce!

From by the bay, wishing you whiskey special sauce food memories!

Maryann

Whiskey Special Sauce

Ingredients

1/2 cup good quality prepared mayonnaise

3 tablespoons yellow mustard

1 tablespoon tomato ketchup

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1 teaspoon whiskey

3 tablespoons chopped bread and butter pickles

1 tablespoon chopped pickled jalapeno

Directions

In a small bowl mix all the ingredients until well combined. Place in a covered glass container and refrigerate for at least one hour below using. The sauce keep refrigerated for up to one week.